Known instrumentation for providing analysis of electromagnetic radiation X-ray sources typically utilize either silicon charge coupled devices (CCD) or lithium drift detectors. Silicon CCD's offer imaging and energy resolution, but only for energies less than 1 Kev. A depletion region, i.e. a region where there are no free holes present to decrease electron current formed by X-rays, is required to prevent recombination of X-ray freed electrons before they are collected. These depletion regions are relatively shallow, being in the order of 5 micrometers for silicon, due to the limited internal voltages inherent in CCD devices. Also, depletion occurs in a direction parallel to the incident X-ray energy. Whereas only a few microns of silicon are depleted, a relatively large thickness of silicon is nevertheless required to stop and detect X-rays in the 1 to 30 Kev range. As a result, inefficient and inaccurate detection occurs with CCD's because they cannot provide depletion of a large enough volume of silicon to assure that the photo-electric effect occurs in the silicon thickness provided for X-rays greater than 1 Kev. This failing is even more pronounced for higher energy X-rays because the thickness of silicon required to react with an X-ray varies as the third power of the X-ray energy. Also, a CCD has no focusing properties and its collection efficiency is a function of the solid angle the detector element subtends with the photo-electric interaction region.
While lithium drift detectors have good energy resolution, they exhibit no spatial resolution. Therefore, imaging cannot be performed. Moreover, the best lithium drift detectors are made of silicon or germanium and must be kept at extremely low temperatures (on the order of 100.degree. K.) in order to remain operational. Also, operational voltages of the order of several kilovolts are required.
In summation, current technology provides either high spatial resolution with poor energy resolution or good energy resolution with no spatial resolution.